1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to plastic bristles composed of a thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic material as well as a method for their manufacture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conjunction with the industrial use of brushes, especially for sweeping, cleaning, grinding, or polishing, so-called technical bristles are usually employed that have brush holders fitted with wire bristles. These wire bristles are disadvantageous in some ways since they damage certain surfaces, for example when sweeping or cleaning, break off when highly stressed, make a loud noise, and are very heavy. An example of this kind is street sweepers with rotating wire brushes that scratch the surfaces of curbstones and roads and/or damage seals, which are then more prone to attack from surface water, frost, oils, etc., become unattractive sooner, and are subject to greater wear.
Because the manufacture of brushes with wire bristles as well as the manufacture of the suspension for the brush bodies, due to the high weight of the wire bristles, is relatively tedious and expensive, attempts have been made to use plastic bristles since these can be manufactured and processed quickly and economically.
It has been found however that plastic bristles, regardless of what plastic material they are made of, do not have sufficient abrasion and breaking resistance to ensure sufficiently long service life in industrial applications.
In addition, especially at the longer bristle lengths used for this application, it is not possible to achieve sufficient bending stiffness with pure plastics.